It's the year 2022... People are still the same. They'll do anything to get what they need. And they need, among OTHER THINGS, a NerveGear.

Anyone...?

The voice was feeble, but in the absolute silence of the blinding darkness, it rang clear as a bell.

Please...?

Vey soft sobbing.

The voice went to say something, but the words were now garbled, and muffled in a frenzy of whispers. Sometimes one could make out a word or two, but this blubbering went on for some time. For how long, it was really difficult to estimate in the maddening blackout.

And then...

I did all this for Kayaba... I looked up to him. He is a savior...

Garble.

I can't... I...

Please...

No... No...

The voice started to go hysteric, but whoever the owner of it was, she (I believe it was a she) was quickly being dragged away into the vast unknown distance where her screams counted for nothing anymore.

No...!

"No!"

"Leafa, help me!"

Silica dangled thirty feet in the air. Both her feet were bound by foot-thick cables-excuse me, vines-so she can't use any of her foot techniques. She couldn't reach the plant monster's tentacles either so there was no help forthcoming from her short gladius blade. An enormous gaping plant mouth lay right below her.

"Haahh..." cried Leafa in frustration. "This was the 34th time you got caught by that thing! Seriously, die for once so you could learn."

"You're so cold," she whined. The mouth came closer. She might try throwing her dagger into that thing's insides but that was never done before. If only she had enough time to weigh the odds...

"Somebody, get me out!" she bawled. "Now!"

Just then, the monster lit up. An arrow hit it from behind. Lizbeth's. It splintered into shining pieces and Silica back-flipped, landing on her feet.

"Phew!" she only sighed, all traces of fright vanished. "Sure didn't have a workout lately."

"Wrong, you idiot!" reprimanded Leafa. "You forgot everything I told you. You got that Gleam crystal, right? You could've just flashed a blinding light on that plantsie and it'd let you go right away!"

The kid only yawned. She can do it on purpose just to insult someone. "What an uncool way to beat something," she said as her pet dragon Pina landed on her shoulder. She nuzzled it. "Right, sweetie?" Giggle.

"And you!" said Leafa turning her anger on Lizbeth. "Always giving her the fast track. Can't you guys take your game seriously?"

She only laughed. "Girl. We've cleared the place already. These potted pansies are nothing. I could walk into a virtual Starbucks with a million million of those snapping at me."

"That's not what I'm saying! The tournaments! How will we win if we don't shape up early?"

Liz turned an incredulous look on her. Seems she has forgotten about the matter for a bit. "Hahah," she said softly. "We don't live for that kind of action, do we?"

"You know that players who die in the tournaments could not be contacted anymore," reminded Leafa soberly.

The two looked at her uneasily for a second.

Silica laughed. "Of course, Leafs. That only means they're not man enough for the contest so they deserve it. Humph. Probably their accounts got blocked for a month."

"Besides," added Liz, "We're not the ones most guilty of loafing." She motioned in the direction of a toadstool-like tree, on which they could see Kirito take time off with his Asuna.

"Laggardly lovebirds," frowned Lizbeth. But she took it back. "Nothing we can do about people in love, eh?" she sighed.

"Now, now," said Silica. "Nothing can take those two apart, even at school, remember?

"And now that school's out for good," seconded Leafa, "what can you expect?"

They sighed in unison. Then laughed as an afterthought.

"Kirito," said Asuna throwing him that glare.

"Wha-" he fumbled, "No, I wasn't saying-"

"Yes you were. I know they call you the Harem Master (TM), but you don't have to take it seriously, now... do you?"

"I only said I wanted that crystal."

"No, man. You said you want DJ Crystal."

"I don't even know her! Cut that, will you?"

Asuna deftly snatched a photo of the jock from his breast pocket, complete with autograph. She was a sweet-looking lady. "You don't know this? Idiot! First, that nurse..."

He was stunned. "No! Silica put it there! A-Ask her! She's the real fan."

She turned her ire to the girls below. "Hey! Silk! You know a DJ Crystal?"

"Hiyeah!" she agreed. "I love her! When I grow up, I wanna be like her."

"Assuming you actually grow up..." commented Lizbeth.

"No fair! And don't call me Silk!"

"I didn't- Wait!"

Asuna turned back to his boyfriend not caring if the horseplaying girls end up murdering each other. He bristled for a harangue, but his girl only sighed irritably. She wasn't really the type to nag. He straightened himself. "Look, let me make this straight. I only said I wanted a crystal. A gem. The blue crystal. I need it for the tournament."

She finally sobered up with a sigh. "So what's with the tourneys? Why are you so worked up? I heard there won't be another one for a month. I need a date."

"Yui approves," Yui said approvingly.

"We can't take this thing lightly, dear," explained Kirito. "You know for one that the players who die in Kayaba's contests got their accounts blocked."

"How did you know?" said Asuna narrowing her eyes.

"Well... Uh, that must be the case. That's what the others say. Look here. Why else wouldn't we hear from those guys for months now?"

She sighed. "I just wonder where Chi-chan is now," she said about a cute player she got close with and got killed off much earlier in the game. "And Cheese-kun. And Sandwich-chan."

"Don't worry, dear," he said tapping her shoulder. "Once we win all the tournaments, we'll force Kayaba to restore everyone." He got up and jumped off, and shouted back. "Let's go!"

"Onii-chan," Leafa complained, "lately we girls have been doing all the dirty work, don't you think?"

He wasn't listening. He was busy savoring the rich blend of Cinnamon Dolce latte, in an upscale virtual cafe oozing with light jazz and suffused with all sorts exotic aromas, draped with living green and sparkling with waterfalls. The others weren't paying attention, either.

"Haah," she said, giving up. "I always thought my Onii-chan would be an ideal gentleman."

"Don't worry," said Lizbeth, "In the next tournament (*wink*) he will do all the fighting for us."

"Nooo..." whined Leafa. "Now all of those SAO critics will say Onii-chan's an overpowered airbag. Stupid bashers."

"Guys," Kirito explained. "I'm sorry if I miss out on the action, but I must focus on the tournament. You all know how vicious Akihiko Kayaba can be." Stretching out, "I have just decided that the only way for us to have a fair chance of surviving him would be a massive headstart: power up all of our stats from the outset, with plenty of healing. The only item with enough energy for all that is-"

"The blue crystal," they all answered in awe.

"Perfect coordination there," he remarked. "However, the blue gem is held by a very powerful boss in the dungeon at Floor 68. The way we are now, a five-man... ehem, excuse me... one-man-four-girl band, won't cut it for an enemy that strong. So I called for some reinforcements."

Kirito clapped his hands (as cliche as it gets, isn't he?) and from the entrance of the cafe came a man of lean, slightly muscular build, someone who was obviously an agility character. Klein. "Well, look what I got. I'd sure love to fight in a team full of lovely ladies."

"Ohhh, come on!" laughed Silica, tickled. "Such compliments from a stranger, you're too kind."

Kirito laughed. "I don't want to stir more fangirling from you, but... Well, this time I hope you get a hold of your heart."

"What," she said in a gasp of breath, suddenly anticipating.

"Ladies... Our second import."

A woman with short, aquamarine hair, clad in a long, gray robe, had been sitting at the bar listening to their conversation, but now stood up and came over to them. She projected quite a presence. The girl couldn't quite make out anything of her.

"Guys," Kirito spoke up again, pulling the photo of the jock from earlier from his pocket. "You might have been wondering what this picture was for. It's true that Silica put it in my pocket, but only because I pretended to be a fan so I asked it from her. I was holding on to this so it could be handy for the introduction.

Silica's mouth hung. "No way," she whimpered covering her mouth, trembling with delight.

The lady coughed. I'm a part-time DJ at Nihon Radio, punching virtual lead into GGO skulls when I'm off the air."

She doffed her robe in a flourish, revealing a sexy military outfit, with a huge Hecate sniper rifle slung behind her back, a number of pistols snug on her belt. The girls were completely floored with astonishment. "How did you get all that into ALO?" they chorused.

"DJ Crystal!" cried Silica rushing to her star and hugging her. "I-can't-believe-I-will-live-to-see-you-alive," she rattled off in a frantic staccato. "Oh-my-what-am-I-saying-I-should-bang-my-head-on-a-wall!"

A hand planted itself on Silica's surprised face, and shoved it away from the jock's torso. "I'm not like this on air, but online, I have no patience for the goofiness of kids." She finally pushed Silica onto the floor. "Not to burst your bubble kid, but..." She loaded her pistol.

Sinon opened her palm and let a flower materialize. The bloom floated up into the air. With a few well-landed shots, the flower burst into smithereens.

"Sugoi..." was all Leafa could say.

Silica, heartbroken, got up and ran. "I hate you!" Bawling.

"W-Wait," spoke up Asuna. "You haven't answered the question. Surely the admins could have prevented you from taking non-world items into Aincrad?"

"She's a hacker," Kirito simply said. "That's the main reason I picked her. We might be able to uncover whatever Kayaba's sneaking up on us."

"This is my first time in this game, so I won't promise you much," Sinon quickly disclaimed. "Though I must say I was actually looking forward to be here." Stretch. "Ahh! I badly need to unwind. Would you believe how hard it is to wrangle a break from the station? They gave me exactly two days off for the whole year! Which is what I'm using up right now, by the way. Think of it! Two whole days out of three hundred sixty-five and one-fourth! I even tried to negotiate that one-fourth day, and they were like, no, and I was like, 'Man, it's only six hours!' "

Kirito laughed. "Stop fretting, sis. You'll get plenty of fun here in Aincrad. Truth to tell, even just this one boss fight coming up would me more than a handful for you."

He was suddenly taken aback by hard-and-fast glare from Sinon.

"Are you saying I can't handle an ordinary fairy-tale boss fight?"

Flat in his face. "Well... no... and..." In a whisper, "Didn't you say it's your first time?"

"Well I think I should find out how well you fight. A duel!"

"Um, Sinon," said Kirito. "I still think it's not appropriate for you to use firearms in Aincrad."

"And you kept insisting on that cheesy light-thingy in GGO! Just shut up and fight, 'K?"

"I'm sorry. Blade weapons are not that out-of-place in a gun contest, but guns in a fantasy world just won't cut it."

"I want a duel, not a debate!"

"Sorry, sis, but I'll keep debating you until you kindly drop your pride." Wink.

She snorted spitefully. Ughh... trying to weigh his charisma in on me. Why does it have to work? "Heh. You just don't want me to be in my element. Very well."

She donned her robe again and pulled the hood over her head. "I gather this fits in here?"

"Umm... Yeah?" He wasn't quite sure what she was up to.

In another magnificent flourish, Sinon let the side of her robe fly off to one side theatrically, revealing a very large weapon which she immediately took out and spun dizzyingly before finally taking a fighting stance. She wielded a massive scythe. "Look, Kirito!" she shouted. "No bullets!"

Everybody's jaws dropped. "W-Wait," fumbled Kirito, "I-I thought you'd uh..." he was taking some steps back as Sinon approached him. "Uh... have um, arrows? Axe? Spells? Hey, that's cool, right? Spells shoot just like ammo."

"I've had enough of your trash!" she yelled, charging. She brought down the huge curving blade on him; he missed it by a hair, sustaining only a small but clean incision of wound, glowing a pixellated red like a fleck of bioluminiscent spittle. This wasn't something to play with.

Surprisingly, there weren't many moves to counter. The thing was designed for the farm, anyway, and if he could stand back and coolly observe her she was no different from a drunk throwing a tantrum and flailing around with a club. But Sinon was so fast, the swinging blade so huge he could not launch an offense, constantly dodging and dodging.

"Kirito-kun!" shouted Asuna with worry. "Be careful!"

"Papa!" cried Yui.

Kirito decided to take flight, wanting some space to lay back and take stock of his strategy.

"Coward!" yelled Sinon. "So you resort to an unfair advantage! Is that all you can manage? I vow I will not let you get away! Prepare to die!"

"So the hacker is talking now, isn't she? Can't I take a break? No one's giving you one-fourth of a day if you can't allow five minutes."

"Go Kirito!" cheered Lizbeth. "Show her what Aincrad's made of!"

"You can do it!" shouted Silica. "Avenge me!"

"Pal," Klein spoke up. "If you get killed by this babe, can inherit your harem?"

Kirito could only facepalm. "Don't worry, bro, I won't die," he muttered.

"Kirito-kun," said Asuna uneasily. "I gotta log out."

"Eh?" he blurted staggering in midair. "Well, thanks for the support," he finally muttered in frustration.

"Well, uh, my body monitor menu notified me with multiple issues. I-I gotta go to the toilet, and, my blood nutrient levels are low, and..." She whispered to Leafa. "I have my period."

"Curse real life," sighed Leafa.

"I'm just going to eat my greens. Be back," Asuna finally said, disappearing as she quit the game.

"Hahh," said Kirito. "Always a good girl with her veggies." He straightened up and addressed everybody. "People," he declared in the most unnaturally self-important booming voice he could muster, "I appreciate all the adulation you offer me. Rest assured that your hero will not fall so easily. I will continue to uphold all of your aspirations and fulfill your loftiest intents. What do you say?"

"Onii-chan!" shouted Leafa, "Look out!"

By sheer dint of reflex Kirito narrowly dodged a wildly spinning object that chopped off the tip of his wing. The object boomeranged back to the ground where Sinon caught the handle of the scythe with one hand.

"You know what!" she yelled. "I think I could better target you that way! Yaaahhh!" She threw him another one.

It would have been simple to evade a hurtling projectile in mid-air, as there was greater space and flight was faster than running, but Sinon knew this already so she kept throwing her scythe in random directions all close to him in a bid to confuse him into getting hit. Kirito, however, did manage for a while, until he eventually got disoriented and had to stay put.

"Onii-chan!" cried Leafa even as the rest were on edge.

Sinon sported a big grin. She smelled the roses already.

She threw her next one straight at him. He was already unmoving. She was sure he was a ripe peach waiting to be picked off by her scythe.

She did not reckon on him well enough. Kirito brandished his black sword and made it the largest he could manage, then gripped it two-handed as with a baseball bat, then posed to make a big swing of it…

He hit the spinning blade!

The scythe spun off in another direction, certainly not back to Sinon. It fell into a lake with splash.

Kirito rushed down to a stunned Sinon , the tip of his sword right ahead of him. She stared in horror as she was paralyzed with disbelief and fright.

Whoosh.

The sword stopped right before it touched her neck.

She gritted her teeth in bitter defeat. "Just because I have no guns…"

"Sorry, honey. This is Alfheim."

Kirigaya Kazuto logged out of his NerveGear after his menu indicated that he needed to eat as well.

He woke up in a dark room and kept lying there for about ten minutes, deciding whether it was too early for him to go back to the real world. There was really hardly anything to do for him here. Not even TV or net; the broadcast and pages always showed him the same tired news of the same horribly tired world. He had long since determined that the only things worth turning on in this room were the NerveGear and the light.

Not even a refrigerator was needed. His only food were these boxes of bland veggie flakes, the same 'greens' that Asuna mentioned earlier. These usually kept well as they were simply dry crackers. Come to think of it, he was so into the virtual realm that it hardly mattered to him if all he had in this world were these veggies, day in and day out.

He got up and turned on the single light in the room. He didn't even care much about the room: a drab affair of bare plankboard walls and floor, windows completely plastered with old rockstar posters. The airconditioning had long since broken down; it took him a while to discover that his bedsheets, and himself as well, were mucky with half-dried sweat.

He dumped his laundry into a plastic bag which he then tied and pushed through the chute of his door, the same chute through which the greens were delivered to him as ordered for him by his uncle (wherever he is), but now, only one box was left. Now this was generally troublesome to him as the supply was quite variable. There tended to be a lot whenever there was a delivery, but these days it wasn't very often, weekly or twice weekly at the most.

He decided to check his weight at the bathroom scale in the toilet. Fifty kilos (about a hundred and ten pounds). That meant he had to eat pretty soon even if he did nothing but lie around all day with the NerveGear.

He sat on the bowl seeing if he would excrete any pent-up waste but there was only a little.

Having eaten his fill, he turned off the light again and lay down strapping the Gear onto his head. It took about fifteen minutes to boot and he spent the time thinking again of this world he was leaving. There was actually little to think about it, save if it was worth thinking of at all.

"OK guys," Sinon explained as the team prepared to assault to castle. "According to my database and some info from Yui here, our enemy was something revived from an earlier tournament and had a record of 47 kills in one round. Now that looks like a terrifying stat, but it was more of player incompetence than any skill on the part of the boss.

"I just discovered a group of about fifty attempted to overwhelm the boss with numbers with a single all-out charge, seeing that it was quite large, but it took down 32 in one swoop, and then the rest got terrified and attempted a hasty escape. Fifteen more were killed in the ensuing disorder.

"It is clear that the enemy has a multiple strike weapon. Much like a 50 cal. But since you have no guns in here, I have no idea what weapon it might be using so we'll have to find out.

Asuna commented further. "The boss used size as a ploy to lure teams into group attacks. To be sure, it won't be feasible for one to try taking down a boss that big, but he or she can survive it for some time."

"So that means," said Sinon, "we must attack one at a time. One will poke around with the boss to know the patterns of attack, and any particular weakness. Who wants to be the probe?"

"Aye," Leafa volunteered. "If it's surviving a boss, I could bank on speed."

"Um… yeah…?" agreed Sinon off-handedly. "But Yui says if any of us dies in this fight, he or she must go back twenty-five floors."

Leafa suddenly gulped. High stakes can sure take a lot of shine off of a fight.

"We can't put up with that!" complained Lizbeth. "That means if one or two of us get sacrificed all of us remaining here will have to wait for them beat twenty-five floors? And pass through that damned Floor 56? That's insane!"

"Simple," said Klein. "All of us will let himself get killed so the whole team goes back 25 floors. No one will have to wait!"

It earned a knock on the head from Liz. "Bright idea, airhead."

"Leafa," instructed Sinon. "You and Silica will fly around and try to confuse the boss. Klein and I will wear him down with arrow attacks from a distance. Asuna will be in charge of all the healing and Yui will study the boss. If any weak spot is discovered, Kirito here will rush in for the kill. All of this must be done within… let's see… twenty minutes. Any later than that and the boss could formulate a general strategy against all of us. Am I clear?"

Everybody nodded silently, aware of the risks involved.

Having cleared the hallway of all minions, the team arrived at the giant doors of the great throne-room where sat the boss. "Who dares challenge the Mighty Drakkon?" boomed a voice.

"Who dares think up a cheesy script that requires a player to hear it before proceeding?" complained Sinon. "Just get us in already!"

Kirito spoke up. "I am Kirito. I dare to slay the Mighty Drakkon and gain the Blue Crystal of Eternal Power. I accept all your challenges."

The doors opened with a loud creak (as all mysterious large doors are wont to do) and they all went in. As soon as they did, the doors once again closed with the same stock audio creak, sealing off any chance of cowardly escape. Now the only choices are to beat the boss or get killed trying.

The floor shook and everybody tumbled and groped for balance while the boss emerged forcibly from the floor like droppings from a constipated bird, or constipated anyone, really. The boss was a skeletal minotaur, but what was noticeable were the bristling spines protruding from its back, moving like tentacles and ready strike at slightest buzz of a fly. The 'multiple strike weapon' now became glaringly obvious to Sinon, who was seized by a sudden fit of terror.

"Everybody watch out!"

One spine shot forward with eye-blinking speed, heading straight for Kirito! It struck him right in the belly. A one-hit kill! Kirito's field of vision immediately blurred and whited out, and then finally blacked out.

YOU ARE DEAD.

What...?

That was fast.

"..."

In the darkness, he heard something, but he wasn't that sure if it was a voice. The dark was so thick and blinding it could have only been his own thinking. But will a mere figment of thought echo so clearly?

Please.

You don't stand a chance.

If you could lose now, who knows what Kayaba will do to you in the tournament?

Please, quit the tournament. Save yourself.